Heaven
by Kaisa
Summary: Fai befriends a family of birds. both the mage and the ninja wonder about the end of the journey, or whether or not they'd all reunite in heaven someday
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone :)

This is my first posted story for Tsubasa. So let me explain where I stand. (just real quick)

number one, I read the del rey english version of the manga, so needless to say, i'm WAY far behind a lot of the people who post fan fiction here. I've been spoiled a little, but i'd REALLY appreciate it if no one spoiled me any further. lol. Keep that in mind if you end up reading something of mine and thinking "hey, this just doesn't make sense because in chapter XXX, this happens!" I know that you can read the manga online, and yes i tried it once... but i have dial up and it takes like, an hour to read one chapter. I can't read like that... lol. so please bear with me.

and on pairings. I am a huge fan of KuroFai. lol. I've only written maybe two stories that were ACTUALLY shonen-ai, but most of the rest is just fluffiness that i think non KuroFai fans could tolerate (?? but who knows?) I'd like to write more KuroFai stories in the future. And of course I like Syaoran/Sakura, but i don't really write it... and now i just like R!Syaoran better than C!Syaoran... I just do. Even though I'm in volume 17 and barely know the real Syaoran, but I like him loads better than the clone... but back to pairinnnngggsss. I am also a fan of Fai/Sakura. I've written a little of that, too. I'd like to write more of that, as well.

I'll probably be posting more of my tsubasa stories, but i'll talk more about them after this chapter. By the way, ther will be two chapters of this story.

Oh, by the way, most of my stories are Fai-centered. He's my favorite! And of COURSE Kurogane is always (mostly) there with him... lol

I hope you like it!

* * *

"Hyuuuu," Fai breathed to himself contently, lying back on a thick tree branch and looking down to the ground nearly twenty feet below.

He and the others had only just arrived from a particularly troublesome world. Though Mokona had established that there was not a feather in this world, he had also suggested that they take a break for a day or two. It was a good decision—Sakura was tired from receiving her feather and the rest of them were even more tired from fighting.

Fai, though, had quickly grown weary of the gloomy atmosphere inside. He had stepped out and found a rather large tree. Looking up, he had spotted a small bird's nest, and, curious, had begun to climb the tree. He reached a branch that was close enough to the nest so he could see inside, but far enough away so the birds wouldn't feel threatened.

Fai peered down into the nest, smiling once he saw four little baby birds moving about. From what Fai remembered, male birds usually had brighter colored feathers from the female ones. And if that were indeed the case for these birds, then there were three male birds and one female one. Two of the males had fluffy new feathers that were a vibrant shade of violet. The female's feathers were a light lilac color, and it seemed that her feathers were more developed than any of the others. And the very last baby barely had any feathers at all. This bird was tiny and scrawny—almost dwarfed compared to the other three. Fai almost felt badly for it.

The mage shifted his footing carefully. It was a good thing that he was skilled at balancing… He didn't really need to worry about falling off his branch. And if such a thing were to happen, he was completely confident that he would be able to catch himself.

The only thing that was really beginning to bother him, though, was that it must have been a million degrees out. Sweat was already starting to pour down his face, and he found himself groaning in disgust.

"What the hell are you doing up there?"

Fai glanced down to see Kurogane at the base of the tree, glaring at him. "Oh, Kuro-run, I thought you were sleeping!"

Kurogane folded his arms across his chest. "How many times do I have to tell you?! _Stop calling me those dumb names!"_

Fai allowed himself a small laugh, but his amusement didn't last very long when he once again realized the heat. "Errrrgh," he grumbled. "This world is way too _hot!'_

"Then why are you up there? Heat _rises_," Kurogane muttered.

"When will the heat go awaaaay?" Fai complained, ignoring the ninja completely. "I don't like it! Kuro-tan, make it go away!" And he stayed completely still on his branch, closing his eyes and trying to imagine himself lying in a mountain of snow.

"It's not that hot…," Kurogane mumbled irritably.

Fai opened his eyes and stared back at him. "Kuro-rin, must I remind you that the world _I_ come from is really, really, _really_ cold?"

Kurogane rolled his eyes and looked away from the mage. Though Fai was chatting up a storm, he couldn't help but sense that there was something wrong. But nothing had happened recently, so there was no reason for Fai to be so…

"Are you going to just stand there, Kuro-chi? Come on up here and see the cute little birdies!"

Kurogane looked up again and frowned at the blonde. "There is no way I'm going up there, especially not to look at"—he ground out the word—_"'birdies'." _And he began to walk back to the house.

Fai beamed down at the four birds. "Take no offense, birdies, meanie Kuro-bun is just jealous that I'm spending more time with you than him!"

"I HEARD THAT!" Kurogane yelled. "AND I AM _NOT_ JEALOUS!" And with that, he stormed into the house.

Fai watched him go, and then sighed, closing his eyes once more. The last world had completely tired him out. But it was just another step ahead in their long journey.

Fai's eyebrows creased for a moment. He wondered exactly _how_ long their journey would be. It seemed endless at times. But he had realized that he _didn't_ want the journey to end. Because that would mean that they would each go their separate ways. He would never be able to see Syaoran or Sakura or Kurogane ever again… And what would happen to him when the journey was done and over with? Would he just keep running, for the rest of his life? Or maybe he would die before the journey was over. Anything could happen… He didn't even want to think about it.

Like what if Mokona transported them to _his_ own country? That horrid place where Ashura-ou would most likely wake up the second they arrived—he and the group _did_ have terrible luck like that.

Fai bit his lip hard. Well, they weren't ever going to go to _that_ country. Even if they did, he would surely _die_ before returning _there_.

Or what if something else happened? What if they landed in Kurogane's world? That would mean that the ninja's wish would be fulfilled…and then he would leave them.

Fai frowned to himself sadly. The journey certainly wouldn't be the same without Kurogane. It would definitely be less fun—and _someone_ had to be the daddy, after all… He would miss the ninja terribly. Which made him wonder what was more depressing—the journey, or the conclusion of the journey.

The blonde shook his head roughly. _Now, now, there's no need to think of that until the time arises,_ he thought to himself.

The baby birds began to chirp at him, almost as if sensing his sadness.

Fai glanced down at them. The smallest one was chirping so loud that it looked like there was something wrong with it. The other birds bustled about, shoving the smallest into a corner.

"Poor thing," Fai whispered to it. "They don't mean to bully you."

The bird only peeped cutely in response.

Fai yawned loudly. The heat was really getting to him—he was so tired… And before he knew it, he was drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Kurogane left the room. Once he had realized that Syaoran, Sakura, and Mokona had fallen asleep, he decided to leave them alone.

Sitting on the couch, he frowned to himself. The blonde mage hadn't returned in nearly four hours now. Kurogane idly wondered what the wizard could be doing. He glanced out the window.

"What the hell…," he growled under his breath as he watched the rain pour from the clouds. Climbing from his seat, he began to stomp his way outside. He had only made it a few feet before he was completely soaked by the chilling rain. Now even more irritated, he cast his gaze into the tree that the mage had been in hours before.

"Kuro-chan! You came to join me!" Fai called down to him happily. The mage was perched in an even higher branch that before, letting the drops of water run freely over his face. He was drenched. "Ah, I'm so happy it cooled off!"

"What the _hell_ are you doing?! Trying to get sick?!" Kurogane yelled at him. "Get down from there, you idiot!"

Fai pouted at him. "No," he said stubbornly. "I don't want to."

Kurogane huffed angrily. "What the hell have you been doing up there all day anyway?!"

"Well, I wanted to watch over those cute little birdies! Their names are—"

"YOU GAVE THEM NAMES?!"

Fai nodded. "Of course. Yumi-chan, the girl, the two boys, Hiroshi-kun and Akira-kun, and the smallest one is named"—he smiled brightly—"Takara-kun."

Kurogane shook his head. "That's stupid."

Fai jumped down a few branches and hovered over the nest. "Don't worry, he doesn't mean that! Kuro-myu loves you all very much!"

"Hmph!" He glared up at the mage. "You haven't just been watching those birds."

"They're _birdies_," Fai corrected.

Kurogane ignored him. "You've been avoiding the rest of us."

Fai gasped. "I am wounded by that horrendous accusation! How could you even think that?"

"Because it's true. What the hell is wrong with you?"

Fai smiled. "Nothing you should worry about, Kuro-ri." And he turned back to the birds.

Kurogane folded his arms across his chest. "That's not an answer."

Fai shrugged. "I was only thinking about what might happen at the end of this journey."

Kurogane fell silent. Sure, he had thought about it, but… It was hard to. At the moment, he couldn't imagine any other life other than the one he was living right then. It had been that long.

"We all have to make a choice," Fai said quietly. "For example, what would you do if we reached your world before the journey is over? Who knows what bad things could happen if you were gone."

Kurogane stared up at him questioningly.

"Everyone knows that kids need their to-chan!"

Kurogane growled and turned away. "Well don't blame me when you get sick!" And he stormed away. But it bothered him. He had stopped thinking about the end of the journey a while ago. He had realized that all it would do was worry him. And he didn't need anything else to worry over at that moment. He glanced over his shoulder, watching as Fai picked up a scrawny little bird. The mage gave it a tiny little smile, but Kurogane could tell that he was worried. "Hmph," he grumbled before going back inside, heading to his room to change out of his sopping clothes.

Fai found himself lying on a branch again, now peering up at the sky through pretty green leaves. The rain had slowed to a mere trickle, and the sun was starting to shine again. And as much as he liked sitting in the tree, he was beginning to get uncomfortable in his wet clothes.

"I suppose I do have to go inside sometime," he told the birds. "What a shame."

The birds began to cheep at him again. They had become used to his presence now, and welcomed him.

"Yumi-chan, Hiroshi-kun, Akira-kun, make sure to take care of Takara-kun while I'm gone!" He gently pet Takara with his finger. "Not that I'm picking favorites," he laughed, petting each of the other birds as well.

Just then, he spotted two other birds, adult ones, flying his way. "Oh, look, it's Kaa-san and To-san!" He told the baby birds. "I better get going!" And he climbed down from the tree. He had seen the two parent birds earlier… But apparently, these birds were very social creatures. The father had landed on Fai's shoulder, not really caring if he was there or not.

Fai strode back to the house, running a hand through his damp hair. It was time to go back to the others.

Yikes. I forgot to tell all you people who didn't know. To-chan/To-san is Daddy/Father Kaa-san is Mother. and I also use Hime for Sakura (meaning "princess")

I've got another ten or so stories waiting to be posted. More angsty ones... i've got a bit of everything... mostly angst though, lol.

I hoped you liked it so far! Please review if you want the next chapter or if you want me to post another one of my stories. yay, i love feedback!


	2. Chapter 2

Well, I'm back with the second and final chapter. I was really discouraged there for a moment, because I didn't get a single review. (Until lately). Yeah, I know it really hasn't been long, and reviews take time, but it was still terrible. lol

so lots and lots of thanks to susan, who was the only person to review! This update is dedicated to you! (gives cookies)

I don't own Tsubasa, by the way! If I did, then there would be way more KuroFai moments! lol!

"_We all have to make a choice. For example, what would you do if we reached your world before the journey is over?"_

_What would I do_? Kurogane wondered. _I want to go home, but to leave before the journey was even finished?_

"_Who knows what bad things could happen if you were gone."_

What _would_ happen? What if the group landed in a particularly dangerous world, and Kurogane wasn't there to help them? He didn't want to feel responsible…feel _guilty_…for their deaths. He would never allow it. The kid protected the princess, and Kurogane felt the need to protect the kid. Syaoran didn't know everything—he definitely wasn't ready to fight off the most formable foes, not until Kurogane taught him how. He'd protect the kid _and_ the princess whenever the time arose.

And Fai?

The guy could probably take care of himself in battle, Kurogane was sure of that. But what he really had to protect Fai from…was Fai himself.

So the question was, would he return to his own world when he was responsible for protecting all these people? He couldn't just leave them unprotected, could he?

Kurogane growled to himself. Now Fai was making _him_ worry about this too.

"Hello, Kuro-wanwan!" Fai greeted him cheerfully.

Kurogane's eyes shot up to see the mage, soaked, standing over him. Due to this fact, the blonde was also dripping all over him.

Kurogane maneuvered off the couch and out of the way of the dripping. "Get out of here! You're dripping all over the place!"

"Hmph! First Kuro-bin says 'come inside before you get sick' and _now_ Kuronpi says 'get out!' How indecisive of you!" He smiled mischievously and shook his head wildly, flinging his hair around and whipping Kurogane with more drops of cold water.

"GAH!" Kurogane couldn't help but yell. "Get dry, you dumb bastard!"

"Tsk, Kuro-sama, you have such a dirty mouth! It's a bad example for the children!" Fai scolded before finally trotting off to his room.

Kurogane growled something rather impolite under his breath, but didn't give an audible response.

* * *

The next morning, Kurogane watched as Fai greeted them, but walked past them all, heading for the door. The ninja frowned.

_He either has a lot to think about,_ Kurogane thought, _or he's just __really__ attached to those birdies._

He then shook his head roughly. _Birds__! Not __birdies__! God, I swear if I spend too much longer with that damn mage, I'll…_

"Kurogane-san, are you okay?" Sakura asked worriedly.

Kurogane stared at her. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine."

"Oh…sorry… It's just…you looked really…disgusted…a second ago."

"Ha! Probably because I was thinking about that _damn_ mage!"

"Oooooooh!" Mokona cooed from Sakura's shoulder. "Kurogane _thinks_ about Fai all the time! He must be in _loooooove!_"

"SHUT UP!"

"And Kurogane doesn't deny it!" Mokona cried excitedly. "Kurogane and Fai, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

Kurogane took a second to figure out what Mokona had spelled. "K-I-S…—WHAT?!"

Mokona giggled. "First comes love, then comes marriage…"

"I DO _NOT_ LOVE THAT STUPID, MORONIC, IDIOTIC WIZARD!" Kurogane roared, grabbing the manjuu. "I WILL SEND YOU STRAIGHT TO HELL, WHERE YOU BELONG!"

"Wai! Kurogane is being mean to Mokona! Mokona is scared! Just because Mokona said _the truth!_"

"IT IS _NOT_ THE TRUTH, YOU DAMN MANJUU!"

"Don't worry, Kurogane, no one will blame you if you want to _kiss_ Fai!"

"WHA?! GAK!" Kurogane dropped Mokona on the floor. "I THINK I AM SERIOUSLY GOING TO THROW UP!"

"Don't deny it, Kurogane! Mokona knows that Kurogane's heart goes doki doki whenever Fai is around!"

Kurogane grabbed the first sharp object he saw—a knife from the kitchen. "I…am…going…to…EAT YOU!"

Mokona began to giggle wildly, running away as Kurogane stormed after him.

Fai happily bounced back to the tree. "Ohh, Takara-kun, Yumi-chan, Akira-kun, Hiroshi-kun! I'm back!" He stopped short of the tree, realizing out of the corner of his eyes that he had almost stepped on something. Looking down, his eyes widened.

"Oh no…," he breathed, kneeling down and picking up the dead baby bird. "Takara-kun…"

The little bird's body was almost completely crushed, twisted in a grotesque frenzy of half-grown feathers and pink skin. What could have happened? Did he fall from the nest?

Fai looked up to the nest. It wasn't directly above them, so… He then noticed that he heard no cheeping from the nest. That was weird. The babies were _never_ silent.

Almost as if they had heard his thoughts, birds began to peep. But the peeping was not coming from the nest. Fai looked to the sky, seeing three tiny violet birds zooming about. So they had finally learned to fly.

Fai frowned down at Takara. "You weren't ready for that yet," he said sadly. "But you didn't want to be left alone, did you?" He set the body down carefully. "I understand, I don't really like being alone either. He sighed and watched the other flying birds. "Just because you have wings doesn't mean you can fly."

* * *

Kurogane strode outside, satisfied. Once he had finally gotten his hands on Mokona, he had stretched the manjuu bun a good few times, all the while telling him that he was _damn_ lucky that he didn't _really_ want to eat him. Mokona would probably only give him indigestion, after all…

He walked over to what he now referred to as "That Damn Mage's Tree". He was about to call up, but stopped when he notice something near the base of the tree. It was a mound of dirt covered in flowers. One of the birds must have died, Kurogane realized. Suddenly, as he was staring at the mound, he was reminded of something.

_-Flashback-_

"_Mother, I don't get it. What's wrong with the birdy? Why won't it move?" a three-year-old Kurogane asked, poking at the unmoving bird. "Aren't birdies supposed to fly away when I come near them?"_

_His mother frowned down at the bird. "That bird is dead, Kurogane. It means that the bird is gone forever."_

"_That sounds really horrible," Kurogane said. "But I don't get it… How can he be gone forever? He's right here."_

_His mother sighed, wondering how she should explain this. "Well, honey, when someone dies, it just means that they move to heaven. Their bodies stay here, but their souls go to heaven."_

"_What's heaven?" Kurogane asked. "Can I visit the birdy there?"_

"_No, Kurogane, heaven is a place where only dead people can go. When someone goes there, you can never see them again. But heaven is a wonderful place where everyone is happy. So when someone dies, you have to remember that they went to a much better place, and that they're happy now."_

_Kurogane frowned. "I don't like that. I don't want to never ever see someone again." He clung to his mother's skirt and gazed up to her face. "Don't ever die, Mother. I'd miss you lots."_

_His mother smiled at him. "Your mother will be around for many more years to come." She didn't bother telling him that even she would die eventually. He was too young for that. "And so will you, Kurogane."_

_Kurogane huffed. "Good."_

"_Why don't you help me bury the bird? When someone dies, we bury then and put flowers on the top."_

_Kurogane didn't really understand this, but since his mother knew __everything__, he nodded. "Okay."_

_-End Flashback-_

"Takara-kun tried to fly, but he fell."

Kurogane looked up to see Fai perched on a branch, watching a now empty nest. "Are you okay?" he found himself asking.

"I feel sad for him," Fai answered, smiling at him.

Kurogane glared. "That's what you get for _naming_ them."

Fai's gaze drifted. "I suppose you're right."

Kurogane grabbed the branch nearest to him and pulled himself up. He climbed up a few branches so he'd be able to face the mage. "…That thing is in a better place now, you know."

Fai stared at him quizzically for a long time.

"You know. Heaven."

Fai's eyebrows creased. "Hummmm…"

Kurogane glared at him again. "Don't you tell me that you don't know about _heaven_."

Fai looked introspective for a long moment as he thought about it. His eyebrows shot up in realization. "Oh! Right! _Heaven_. I nearly forgot."

"Forgot? How the hell do you _forget_ about something like that?"

"Well now, I had heard about it a _really_ long time ago… And I hadn't really heard about it since. But, yes, I remember now…" He pointed to the sky and made a circular motion with his finger. "Angels and such, right?"

Kurogane nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess."

Fai nodded to himself. "I thought so." He glanced back at Kurogane, who was staring at him as if he had just sprouted another head. "Kuro-pyu? What's wrong?"

"You seriously haven't heard much about heaven," Kurogane stated, shaking his head.

Fai smiled. "You'll have to forgive me, Kuro-chi, but I don't really believe in it all that much. And about me not hearing much about it? Well, all I've really heard about was hell."

Kurogane chewed on this for a moment. "You don't believe in heaven…"

"Well, for Takara-kun, sure."

Kurogane frowned. _Now_ he understood. "But not for yourself."

Fai closed his eyes and smiled brightly. "What about you, Kuro-muu? Do you think you'll end up in heaven?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Kurogane growled. "But at least _I_ believe that there's another choice other than hell."

Fai shrugged. "Who knows?"

Kurogane leaned up against the trunk of the tree.

"But that would be nice, ne? If the journey ended, we could all meet again in heaven," Fai said wistfully. "If we all made it that far."

Kurogane sensed something ominous in his words. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

Fai paused, slightly frowning. "It just means that you and the others might just have to have a happy reunion in heaven without me."

"Why? Because you're sure that you're going straight to hell when you die?" Kurogane asked angrily.

Fai shook his head vaguely. "No, not necessarily. But if…if the person in my world ever wakes up…and…and ever catches me… He'll make sure I never make it to heaven."

Kurogane shot him a confused look. "How the hell—?"

Fai smiled at him once again. "He has his ways, Kuro-pin. If it were his will, I would not go heaven _or_ hell. Though I also would not be able to stay among the living. He'd force me to spend the rest of eternity alone."

Kurogane glared to himself. The more he heard about this Ashura guy, the more he was sure that he would hate him. "That's why you're not going to let him catch you."

"Yes, being caught _would_ put me in a rather precarious position," Fai replied with a laugh. "But I suppose I can still have…" He trailed off, not sure how to finish his sentence.

"Hope," Kurogane finished for him.

Fai smiled at him. "Yes. We do have that."

END

Thank you for reading. I'd really LOVE it if I got some reviews! I'll be posting something else I wrote (not sure what yet) sometime this week. Now, what to post...


End file.
